


We Could Be Immortals, Just Not For Long

by Katiebug445



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, I POSTED THIS ON MY BIRTHDAY SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM ME I HOPE YOUR HEARTS ALL BREAK, I am so sorry, LingFan - Freeform, everybody dies. i mean everyone., ling/lanfan - Freeform, major angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 04:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiebug445/pseuds/Katiebug445
Summary: Ling realizes that immortality isn't as wonderful as he thought it would be.





	We Could Be Immortals, Just Not For Long

He hadn’t aged a day. Ling poked and prodded his skin in the mirror, looking for any sign of a wrinkle, a laugh line, a gray hair - anything - to indicate that he was aging at all. 

 

It had been five years since he’d become emperor, and he still had the body of an 18 year old. It wouldn’t have been such a bad thing, but LanFan, Mei, and the rest of his friends and family were beginning to get older, to grow up, and he was left behind. 

 

So far, it wasn’t too bad. Luckily for him, giving his body to the homunculus Greed had aged him a little, and he could pass for his mid twenties. Though before too long, he knew it would become a problem. 

  
  


When Mei wrote to them explaining that she was engaged to Alphonse Elric, and sent a picture along with it, he couldn’t believe how much she’d grown up in such a short time. 

When LanFan turned 29, she began to show the simple signs of getting older; the laugh lines around her mouth stuck out easily whenever she would smile. The crinkles around her eyes reached out closer to her hairline than they ever had. She’d even found her first couple gray hairs. 

 

Ling wanted so badly to say he was going through this with her. 

 

~ 

Edward was the first to go. 

 

From what he’d heard, it was peaceful. At the age of 70, he went in the middle of the night, surrounded by his family, and apparently cursing that he was going to have to wait for everyone else for however long.

 

Ling couldn’t believe it. Out of everyone, he expected the oldest Elric to outlive all of them out of pure spite. Because that’s how Edward was. Larger than life in a pint sized package, with enough piss and vinegar in his heart to keep him around for a thousand years. Ling planned to visit him as soon as he could get away. 

 

Roy was next. Ling had worked closely with Fuhrer Mustang since before he was given the position, in hopes of establishing a faster trade route from Amestris to Xing, and he’d even been present when Roy and the woman Lieutenant of his sneaked across the border to elope. He was happy for them, he could tell how much the two cared for each other. He and Miss Hawkeye were being driven back to his home by their son, when they were hit head on by a drunk driver. Roy sacrificed himself to save Riza, who was left alone after the deaths of her son and husband. 

 

Miss Riza died of a broken heart not three months later. 

 

Winry survived nearly two years after Edward. According to Alphonse, she’d overworked herself, and tried to stubbornly hand deliver a piece of automail to a child in in need, in the middle of winter, and ended up catching pneumonia. After a hard fought battle, the illness finally got to her, and it took her in her sleep. Their children had no idea what to do with themselves. 

 

Alphonse was the next to go. With Mei at his side, the younger of the two Elrics had one last slice of apple pie, lay down in their bed, and closed his eyes with his hand in hers. When he didn’t wake up the next morning, she had called home to tell them all what had happened, and said she planned on returning home soon for a visit. 

 

The trip across the desert was to be her last. She’d brought her and Al’s three children along for the ride, hoping they would get to know their Xingese relatives a little better, to know they still had some family left in the world. 

 

When Mei arrived, it was apparent that she wasn’t handling things well. They all knew how much she loved her Alphonse, enough even to leave her clan and follow him back to Amestris when he left originally. She made it nearly a year and a half, living a nearly solitary life in the palace alongside her emperor brother, before she left them, explaining that it had been too long since she’d seen Alphonse and the rest of her small family. The last thing she said was that Ling shouldn’t keep her waiting forever before she got to see him again. 

 

Lan Fan was the last one to go. 

 

At 92, she was tired. She’d long since been replaced by another bodyguard, and got to spend the rest of her days in worry that nobody could do her job as well as she could. But every night, Ling came to bed, crawled in beside her, and held her in his arms. “You haven’t aged a day,” she told him, a gentle hand on his cheek. “You still look the same as you did on our wedding day.” 

 

“And so do you,” he replied, his throat tight. “You’re still every bit as beautiful as you were that night.” He could see her rolling her eyes at him, but he didn’t miss the slight blush coloring her cheeks, either. His heart felt like a rock in his chest, seeing her like this, knowing what was coming sooner than he would have liked to admit. 

 

“Maybe on the inside.” she settled back against her pillow, her breath light, and closed her eyes. “Thank you, Ling.” 

 

He looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowed, and asked, “for what?” 

 

“For always being you. For giving me one hell of an adventure of a life. It’s more than I could have ever asked for.” 

 

“You helped make it one, Lan. But don’t talk like this, please. We still have more adventures to take!” He told her, his voice tight. Ling swallowed around the lump in his throat, and held her hand a little tighter. “Right?” 

 

LanFan shook her head, slowly opening her eyes so she could see his face. “Thank you, my lord.” She gave his hand one final squeeze, and shut her eyes again. After a few moments, the rise and fall in her chest stopped, and LanFan was completely still. 

 

“Lan?” He called, giving her a gentle shake. “LanFan?” Still holding onto her hand, he got to his feet, crawled up onto the bed, and shook her again. “No, please, LanFan! Don’t leave me!” He sobbed, cradling the love of his life in his arms, the tears finally breaking free and splashing onto her face. “You’re all I have left, you can’t leave me! LanFan!” 

 

After a desperate few moments, he finally gave up trying to wake her, and let acceptance take hold of his heart. She was gone. The one person who he hoped would stay by his side forever, the one he’d always fought so hard to protect, was gone.  He was completely on his own, now. 

Everyone who he’d ever loved, who he’d let into his heart, was gone. 

 

Ling caught sight of himself in the mirror across the room, his face red, his eyes puffy, but still in perfect shape, with a face frozen forever at the age of 18. 

 

He’d achieved his goal, yes, but what good was immortality if there was nobody left to share it with? 


End file.
